Hilary Pennington
Executive Vice President for Program, Ford Foundation
Hilary Pennington serves as Executive Vice President for Program at the Ford Foundation. In this capacity, she oversees all of the foundation's programs globally, working closely across programs and offices to ensure strategic, meaningful, and well-aligned global grant making.
Before assuming her current role, she served as the foundation’s Vice President for Education, Creativity, and Free Expression. Prior to joining Ford in 2013, Hilary served as director of education, post-secondary success and special initiatives at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, was a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, and president and CEO of Jobs for the Future, a research and policy development organization she co-founded.
Hilary also served on President Bill Clinton’s transition team and as co-chair of his administration’s presidential advisory committee on technology. She is a graduate of the Yale School of Management and Yale College and holds a graduate degree in social anthropology from Oxford University and a master’s degree in theological studies from the Episcopal Divinity School.